That’s right. My webcomic Lovarian Adventures is four years old now. Actually, it was four years old yesterday (19 April).

A few months ago, I’ve joined a webcomic group called Graphic Smash where I was hoping to get some financial renumeration for all my efforts on the comics. However, that meant that the archives of the comics would only be accessible to paid subscribers. This meant that my old readers who have no way to pay for a subscription cannot read the old pages. This also meant that any new potential readers will only be able to read the newest page as the latest page is always free to view. But then, a new potential reader may not get hooked by just the latest page alone because the latest page will be out of context with the rest of the story.

That’s one of the reasons why I left Graphic Smash in addition to my realisation that I wouldn’t be able to produce new comic pages in a regular and consistent basis.

So, I was waiting for Graphic Smash to officially announce my webcomic’s departure from their group before I post a new comic page. I was also hoping that they would make the announcement before the anniversary date.

Ah, well. There’s a new page at my webcomic site for those interested.

I used to ignore weather reports, at least when I was still living in the Philippines. There are only 2 weather conditions in the Philippines anyway – rainy or sunny. The weather ranges from about mid-20s to high 30s (Celcius) and with the exception of stormy days, you could usually gauge the weather condition for the entire day just by looking at the sky in the morning. If the day starts out bright and warm, chances are, it would stay that way until you head home in the evening. On the other hand, if you feel that there’s a chill in the air and gray clouds are looming overhead, better bring your raincoat or umbrella as there would be a big chance of rain.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) gives out daily forcasts, just like any other weather prediction agencies throughout the world. Sad to say though that the predictions they give out are of the hit-and-miss kind, possibly because of the outdated equipment they use. I think I read somewhere that the location of the country and its configuration also has something to do with the accuracy of predicting the weather in that area. If this is true, just imagine the difficulty of trying to predict the weather patterns of a country consisting of 7,107 islands near the equator.

“Wala na talagang pag-asa ang PAGASA,” (There’s just no hope for PAGASA) is the comment people would usually give whenever the agency announces a big storm coming and it turns out to be a very bright and sunny day. Worse still, PAGASA predicts a sunny day and yet you wake up to whistling wind, heavy downpour and flood everywhere.

Which is why when I got here in Australia, I mostly ignored the weather reports as well. I didn’t think it would matter and that the predictions would be hits-and-misses too. However after several occasions of spending the day sweating in my jumper or freezing in a thin T-shirt, I learned to pay closer attention to the weather forecasts. Temperature could range from a single digit to low 20s in autumn (specially in Canberra) or could change from sunny to cloudy, chilly, freezing and back to sunny again here in Melbourne. My rule of trying to gauge the weather from the temperature in the mornings doesn’t make sense anymore as the weather changes throughout the day. I’d have to rely on the Bureau of Meteorology just like everyone else, as their forecasts are fairly accurate and only deviates slightly, if at all.

Anyway, I’ve also learnt that trying to dress for a particular kind of weather doesn’t really work, my clothes would have to adapt to the weather. Nope, that does not mean going in search of a magic fabric that adapts to the changing temperature. It simply means that you have to learn how to layer. Sandos(singlets), T-shirts (2 or more) and polo shirts could be worn on top of one other with a jacket, cardigan or a coat. As the weather warms up, you could easily take off layers and stash them in your car or bag.

Tomorrow’s forcast is for a sunny day with a low of 7 and high of 22 degrees (Celcius). Still a good day to layer but I’ll most likely leave my brolly (umbrella) behind.